Welcome, advocates, to the STRIPED Advocacy Playbook!
You don’t need to be a lawyer or a lawmaker to change laws. Heck, you don’t even need to be an adult! People of all ages and walks of life have the power to use government to make the changes they want to see in the world. We’re guessing that if you’ve found your way to our Playbook, then you are someone who cares about equity and justice and wants to see evidence-based public policy make life better for the people and communities you care about. If yes, then you’ve come to the right place. This Playbook will help you map out ways to successfully influence lawmakers to change systems, policies, and funding in ways that matter to you.
Most likely you found this website because you believe we should do whatever we can to help all children grow up with body confidence. There are so many ways you can make a difference! Maybe you want to prevent the sale of weight-loss supplements and muscle-building supplements to kids. Maybe you want to create incentives to get businesses to end the practice of digitally distorting photographs to alter body shape, size, or skin shade. Or maybe you have something different in mind. Whatever kind of policy change you are seeking, this Playbook will help.
Before jumping in, we wanted to level-set by offering some definitions that we will be using throughout the Playbook. You’ll see that we refer to the term “body confidence” throughout. We chose this affirmative description for the sake of consistency, but recognize that there are other terms that may work better for you and your campaign.
The language changes from time to time and different regions may prefer different terms. Please adjust your messaging to reflect the terms that best fit your campaign. See our Glossary of Terms.
If changing a state or local law sounds like a lot of work, it is, but it is not impossible. The impact that policy change can have on people’s lives is incredible! Successful advocacy efforts rely on the combination of time-tested practices that together can convince lawmakers to support your proposed policy change.
At STRIPED, we used the Power Prism® advocacy framework and we have included many of the Power Prism® tools and guidance into this playbook with enthusiastic support from its creators at My Power People LLC. The Power Prism® is a step-by-step plan that will help you recognize and act on opportunities to build momentum in a campaign for change.
